

A recent Treasury Department report of misconduct by a banking regulator is giving watchdogs some ammunition to argue that financial regulators are too cozy with the banks they are tasked with overseeing. 

The report, part of a small batch just released by the department's inspector-general, says that a government employee in Florida who served as a bank examiner accepted "gratuities (golf fees and/or food) on at least four occasions" from a bank he was reviewing. The report, conducted in 2010, called the situation a "conflict of interest" for the employee, who worked at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. 

"You have a government employee, during a time when he has a special responsibility to oversee this bank, actually taking time from work and going to play golf with these folks," said Michael Smallberg, a researcher with the Project on Government Oversight. "It was a pretty striking example of a government employee actually cozying up to the folks he's supposed to be regulating." 

But Inspector-General Eric Thorson, who polices the Treasury Department and released the files, defended the agency. 

"These investigative reports are good examples of the fact that the department has been successful in demonstrating that there is little toleration for individual misconduct." 

"My opinion is that Treasury has an institutional highly ethical culture," he added. 

But Smallberg is still critical. "When folks wonder why regulators didn't do a better job of stopping the financial crisis, or they're wondering why OCC didn't spot the huge trading loss at JP Morgan earlier this year, I think part of the issue is just that the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining," he said. 

What are the answers to this following set of questions:

1. What was the recent report about?
2. Was this a big batch?
3. When was the report?
4. What was it called?
5. Who took up for the agency?
6. Who was he?
7. What does he do?
8. Where these reports bad or good?
9. How were they good?
10. What was Thorsons thoughts on the Treasury?
11. Did Smallberg have any thoughts?
12. What was one of his thoughts?
1. Misconduct by a banking regulator
2. No
3. 2010
4. A "conflict of interest" for the employee
5. Eric Thorson
6. Inspector-General
7. Polices the Treasury Department
8. Good
9. They are good examples that there is little toleration for individual misconduct.
10. It has an institutional highly ethical culture.
11. Yes
12. That the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining